Day 1, Anna hammers IEK record, 30 IEK finalists net 8 medals

IEK came away with 3 Gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals on a cold, windy, showery Day 1 of Kent Championships at Ashford. With only a standing throw, Anna Alvarez improved her own u15 IEK record by 1.20m to take gold in the Hammer, while Jason Prickett (u20) and Rebecca Weston (u17) went to the start line as favourites of 800m and 1500m respectively, and duly raced to gold by handsome margins. Jason's winning time was to be 2 seconds faster than the Senior men's winning time and for Rebecca it was step one toward succesful defence of double 800/1500 titles from 2009. James Reilly (u20 800m) and Kieran Reilly (u17 1500m) both improved their bronze at last year's championships to silver this time round - Kieran's final featured no fewer than 6 IEK athletes. Sprinter Jaffer Adams (u15) was pipped on the line by the narrowest of margins in 100m. By posting IEK's fastest two times in both heat and final, Annabel Carter (u17) thoroughly merited bronze for 300m in a final featuring 3 IEK athletes, while in u17 Triple Jump Scarlett Mann took bronze.

Intermittent sunshine on Day 2 at Ashford - IEK athletes hauled in 10 Gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze to bring the total to 23 over the two days of the County Championships : 4 medals for sprinting, 2 for jumps, 3 for throws and 14 for middle distance. David Glendower started IEK's dazzling Day 2 with 6th in the final of the first field event, the Senior Men's Hammer, having already made Shot + Discus finals on Day 1. In the first track event of Day 2, Sharon Hawkins (v45) Vicky Talbot Rosner (v50) and Tim Sutton (v40) each took Gold at 5,000m, Janice Moorekite clinching v50 silver. Icing on the cake was Sharon improving Liz Batty's IEK v45 record and Vicky bettering Ruth Kay's v50 mark. Later in the day, Sharon Hawkins took bronze at 1,500m in the open competition for Seniors. Jaffer Adams (u15) was a scintillating winner of 200m with sprint stablemate Chris Chancellor (u20) a fine bronze medallist at 400m while Scarlett Mann took her 2nd gold of the championships, this time at Long Jump. Kieran Reilly (u17) more than made up for last year's disqualification for silver : a supremely judged race on the final back straight, with a majestic final sprint, brought well-deserved 800m Gold in a race where, again, half the finalists were IEK. The bonus for Kieran was his first sub-2 mins, which makes him IEK's 2nd fastest ever in this age group. Anna Alvarez (u15) was IEK's most successful athlete of the day, adding Javelin and Shot Put gold to the hammer gold on Day 1, her Shot only 3cm short of Liz Gibbens's 1991 IEK record. Rebecca Weston had to fight off the close physical challenge of an old Tonbridge rival to successfully defend her 800m crown. Rebecca joins Julie Rose, Kelly Holmes and Lisa Dobriskey who all won Kent double 800 + 1500 twice each as u17s. In a competitive 800m final, Bobby Clay (u15 Girls) managed a fine bronze against girls one year older while, in the 1500m, Jason Prickett (u20) was on course for a county 800/1500 double before being caught out down the last back straight and had to settle for silver. Martin Kelk rounded off the day with a 2,000m S/chase vet-40 gold, beating Peter Bowell's IEK record by 6 seconds Full report on all IEK competitors when official results are published by Kent AA